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Considering Yo Yo Loaches

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Tank size: 40 gallons

I am considering adding some loaches to my community tank. Maybe 6 yo yo loaches with 6 kuhli loaches. I just now discovered the yo yo loach for some reason. Can anyone give me some advice on these please? Are they aggressive or would they make good community mates?

what about the dwarf chain loach? Smaller, and are quite boisterous in a school of 10+. @WhistlingBadger can give you his experiences with them.

Thanks, I will look into those. Don't know much about those either!!

Wow, the dwarf chain loach looks awesome!! Would love to have at least 10 in my 40 gallon community tank. Unfortunately they are a little bit more pricey than the kuhli loach from TWS. $13/fish, but I do like how they look!!

I just read about the dwarf chain loaches eating snails. Anyone know if they would eat my assassin snails? Or are those too big for them? Not really too worried about it because I have a million assassins, just curious more than anything.

1Hi, Wolfgang. A school of 8-10 dwarf chain loaches has lived in my 55g for a few years now. I've never seen them show the slightest interest in eating snails (I have assassins and mystery snails).

I have kept a LOT of different fish species through the years, and these are undoubtedly one of my favorites. Probably my all-time favorite bottom-feeder. They are very active (without being aggressive or obnoxious), full of personality, and very attractive to look at. They have this funny habit of taking a little break now and then and just sort of sprawling out for a rest in whatever position they happen to be in. Their interactions with each other are really interesting, too. They even make little clicking noises at each other that are sometimes audible across the room!

I think a school of 10 would be perfect in a 40 gallon. There are only two drawbacks: The price, yes. I had to save up for my school. And sometimes they arrive in rather bad shape and there can be losses, though I suspect that's more a fault of my LFS' supplier than the species itself.

@WhistlingBadger thank you very much for that information!! I've never had any issues with my supplier, I always buy from www.wetspottropicalfish.com and so far so good. I think I will go with the dwarf chain loaches, probably 8-10. They look really neat!!

1Hi, Wolfgang. A school of 8-10 dwarf chain loaches has lived in my 55g for a few years now. I've never seen them show the slightest interest in eating snails (I have assassins and mystery snails).

I have kept a LOT of different fish species through the years, and these are undoubtedly one of my favorites. Probably my all-time favorite bottom-feeder. They are very active (without being aggressive or obnoxious), full of personality, and very attractive to look at. They have this funny habit of taking a little break now and then and just sort of sprawling out for a rest in whatever position they happen to be in. Their interactions with each other are really interesting, too. They even make little clicking noises at each other that are sometimes audible across the room!

I think a school of 10 would be perfect in a 40 gallon. There are only two drawbacks: The price, yes. I had to save up for my school. And sometimes they arrive in rather bad shape and there can be losses, though I suspect that's more a fault of my LFS' supplier than the species itself.

Thomas, I can't remember, do you have any plecos in the tank with the DCL's?

I ask because of this little tidbit: "This species is generally considered to be an excellent choice for the community aquarium, but caution should possibly be exercised since conflicting observations exist. While some aquarists consider it to be peaceful over the long-term others report the opposite, with sedentary or long-finned fishes most at risk."